Building problems

[Jorganza]

I'm having two architectural problems I can't get working, one is with the pool and the other one is with a half wall.

First, I'm trying to make a pool that is shallow, like the ones found in front of the Taj Maja and the Lincoln memorial.
After fiddling around I get this-



But after saving, exiting and returning, I get this-


 

Does anyone know how to stop the pool's water from floating?

Secondly, I'm trying to make a half wall (or a fence) that is flush with the face of the ground so it looks like the wall is holding back the ground,
but the closest thing I could get is this-



If you want a better picture of what I'm trying to do, see this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iETkXf0Ge8s)
and change it between 19 and 43 seconds. See the brick wall next to the stairway? That's what I'm trying to
do. Hopefully it's even possible because I haven't seen anything like that.

[nanacake]

Well I am not sure if this is what you want, maybe I can take pictures later when I open the game. I you have UNI (I think it came with that ep) you have the stage, and I used the stage to mess with the pool height instead of foundation because it seemed to react better. I play around with unconstrained floor a lot til I achieved the water level I wanted, but with the foundations it never worked.

Also instead of using the half walls from the game you could make your own fake ones from normal sized walls, which has added bonus of being able to accent it with a fence ontop.

First lay down where you want your walls with the normal wall tool, then place a foundation block one tile away from the wall. Use the land flat tool to drag from the foundation block over the "invisible" squares of the wall to make it lowered to the same height as the foundation block. If you place the foundation block on several clicks higher of ground, you can achieve different sized walls and effects.

[J. M. Pescado]

The pool is constrained to float a certain height from the bottom, so making the pool "shallow" by odd tricks will result in the water plane hovering.

[Jorganza]

Thanks for the help nanacake, but I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I think I'm just going to try to fake it with the wall as best as possible.

The pool is constrained to float a certain height from the bottom, so making the pool "shallow" by odd tricks will result in the water plane hovering.

I had a feeling that was the problem. Oh well, I'll just have to have a very deep shallow pool.

[Kyna]

 I know they're not quite what you had in mind, but have you considered building something like the ornamental ponds on the Capp lot in Veronaville? If you make them shallow you won't see fish in them.

[Zazazu]

First lay down where you want your walls with the normal wall tool, then place a foundation block one tile away from the wall. Use the land flat tool to drag from the foundation block over the "invisible" squares of the wall to make it lowered to the same height as the foundation block. If you place the foundation block on several clicks higher of ground, you can achieve different sized walls and effects.

The problem is that the game is going to override you and will always create a sloped area between the high and low areas. You can't get a sheer drop-off. What I do is use foundation to make a 1-tile surround. It's not the best, but it achieves the look of a breaker wall. Good for steep beach lots.

[Jorganza]

I know they're not quite what you had in mind, but have you considered building something like the ornamental ponds on the Capp lot in Veronaville? If you make them shallow you won't see fish in them.

I'm experimenting right now on what looks the best, and I'll probably just leave it as a pool. It still looks good so I'm not going to worry too much about it.

The problem is that the game is going to override you and will always create a sloped area between the high and low areas. You can't get a sheer drop-off. What I do is use foundation to make a 1-tile surround. It's not the best, but it achieves the look of a breaker wall. Good for steep beach lots.
[/quote]

Yeah that's what I wanted, a sheer drop-off. I'm somewhat used to how the terrain works on RCT and wished TS2 had something similar.
Do you have a picture on your foundation breaker wall Zazazu? I'm trying to figure out the best way possible without making it look horrible, but I still get the sloped-ground ugliness.

[devilsrope]

Here are a couple pics of what I do, and what Zazazu described. Build a 1-tile-wide foundation with the sloped ground contained within it. Click twice for full size.

[Jorganza]

Yay, thanks devilsrope for the pic. I'm off to try that now.

[pbox]

Re. hiding the slope next to a wall: d_unit at mts2 has a fence you can use to cover it up - a simple but quite convincing workaround: http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=242420

[Mootilda]

The pool is constrained to float a certain height from the bottom, so making the pool "shallow" by odd tricks will result in the water plane hovering.

You might be able to adjust this.  There's a float for the water level in the POOL record:
http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=POOL